Truth
by Zephyr169
Summary: AU of Avengers. Please leave a review. Warning Character Death. One shot.


**AN: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this story. :D Warning it is sad. Disclaimer: Do I even need to write this? We all know we don't own anything lol. Now without further delay enjoy! :D**

* * *

_The air was filled with ash and Loki struggled to breath. The large gash through his armor and chest poured his life blood. He was dying and he knew it. The Comm in his ear buzzed. Nothing but static. He was alone and fading fast._

* * *

Thor had just undone Loki's cuffs. He was free. Granted he was banished to earth by Odin for his punishment, but he was free. They didn't take his magic from him, they didn't torture him. He was pleasantly surprised as he left central park with Thor. They were heading to the Avengers Tower as it was now called. The people in the streets working on rebuilding after Loki's 'take over the world stunt' sneered at him and demanded his head. He only looked down trying to figure out how to help them. It hadn't been his decision or choice to attack Midguard A person could only take so much torture before they break. Add in the power to control minds makes it even harder to resist. But resist he did. For a whole year in fact. That was a new record for those who encountered the mad titan. Odin didn't get this information willingly either. It took Loki a long time to finally confess to what happened to him after he fell into the void. Upon hearing of the mad titan's return however Odin had cleared him of his crimes and told him he just needed to work out his attack on Jotenheim by helping the humans. Some of the midguardians were so bold as to throw things at him but he just sidestepped the projectiles. He saw one of the large buildings had been severely damaged and was about to fall onto the people in the street. They were paying no mind. That is until it started to rain debris. Loki reached for his magic and stopped it.

"Is anyone inside that falling structure?" He asked the crowd.

Silence greeted him. Then one person from the crowd answered.

"I don't believe so. They haven't started working on that one yet." The young woman stated.

Loki nodded and then shifted the crumbling structure. Beads of sweat appeared on his brow as he used even more of his limited magic. He fixed the windows, mended the structure and even recreated the bricks on the outside. Soon the building looked as if nothing happened to it at all. Everyone stared at the god who had just destroyed everything fix their building. Loki sagged against his brother after using so much of his magic. The young woman pushed her way through the crowd and approached the two gods.

"Why? Why would you help us after you just tried to destroy everything?" She asked what everyone else was thinking.

"Because he's lying and wants us to forgive him so easily!" A guy in the crowd yelled.

There were murmurs of agreement throughout the crowd. Thor just shook his head as he helped Loki stand.

"I am Thor of Asgard. And I am here to tell you of what really happened." He stated.

Loki shook his head. Thor looked down at him confused. Loki forced himself to stand by himself and looked around.

"Look. I don't expect you to believe me. And I wouldn't expect you to forgive me. Nothing can undo the damage I did not only to the city but to all of you who live in it as well. I know that nothing can excuse my actions." Loki started.

"Loki, we both know what really happened." Thor interrupted.

"And will they believe that? I can promise you Thor they wont. They want justice, not the truth." Loki told Thor.

He turned back to the crowd and saw the glares of so many people. He felt sick. These people believed he had done all this. He knew they wouldn't accept any other story. He was about to open his mouth to continue the lie they all wanted to hear when the woman spoke again.

"What really happened? I want the Truth not just what everybody has been saying." She said.

Loki's eye's widened. Why would she want something that contradicts what she believes?

"Excuse me?" Was all he could say.

"We don't want to be lied to. Tell us what really happened." Someone else from the crowd spoke up as well.

There were murmurs of agreement throughout the people gathered. Loki sighed and hung his head.

"You wont believe it." He said.

"We still want the truth. It may be hard to believe but that's something we can all decide for ourselves." The woman said again.

"Okay. Fine, I'll tell you. About a year ago I had fallen into the void. I fell through space until I crashed into another realm. Another planet." Loki started trying to fix the confused looks he was getting with the different terms.

"There I met the chitari. And then their leader. This man known as the Mad Titan wants one thing. The destruction of all worlds. He offered me a deal. I could go and fetch the Tesaract for him or they would. . . They would torture me." Loki stopped and composed himself.

He shoved the images out of his mind and continued.

"I had refused. Then only a week earlier the titan showed me I had no choice. He had a scepter created that could be used to control someone." he explained.

"Mind control?" someone asked.

Loki nodded.

"Yes. Mind control. After almost a year of torture I was weak. They used this scepter on me and I couldn't control what I was doing anymore. It was still me, but, not. My conscience was gone and it made me believe that I really wanted to do this. It wasn't till one of your heroes, Hulk I believe hes known as, had smashed me into the concrete floor of Stark Tower that the connection was lost. I don't expect any of you to believe me, but now you know the truth." Loki said.

No one moved then the woman walked even closer to Loki. He eyed her warily. What was she doing? She was only a few feet away.

"Are there scars?" She asked.

Loki only nodded.

"Then why cant we see them?" She asked.

The crowd muttered. Loki shifted.

"Because I'm hiding them." The woman tilted her head.

"How?" Loki looked down at his feet.

"With an illusion." He replied.

She took another step forward.

"Can you show us?" She asked.

Loki sighed then nodded. Thor stepped forward.

"Brother you don't have to." He started but Loki cut him off.

"Yes. I do." He then waved his hand and there was a green shimmer around his body.

Everyone gasped, some threw up, others cried out in shock, and some started crying. There were scars covering Loki. It looked like he had boiling water thrown on him, then was lashed, cut, and skinned. There wasn't one area of his body that was unmarred. He continued to stare at the ground not wanting to see the faces of the people around him. Then there were arms around him and a whispering in his ear.

"I believe you." Loki looked up to see the woman embracing him.

This caused the others in the crowd to move forward as well. Everyone grouped around him and joined the hug. Thor gave a small chuckle and Loki was just dumbfounded. No one was supposed to believe him. His whole life he grew up where if someone believed one thing then they would not accept any other opinion. And now here everyone had previously believed the lie that he had wanted to rule them and with the truth everyone accepted it. He was shocked. When the hug finally ended the people went off to help rebuild the city and spread the word of the truth to the rest of humanity. Thor then lead Loki to the tower. Loki no longer wore his illusion. He was too shocked at the friendly reactions and of acceptance to even bother to replace it. They had just exited the elevator inside stark tower into the main sitting room where the avengers were all hanging out. They had seen the hated god and were about to attack until they saw all the scars. They were frozen. Thor walked forward leaving Loki leaning against the door. He walked forward.

"My friends. I know this will be hard to believe but I have come to tell you what really happened during the battle." Thor started.

Natasha snapped out of it first and turned to Thor. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head.

"We were in that battle Thor, I think we know exactly what happened." She stated.

Loki chuckled from the doorway. That was the reaction he had been expecting earlier. Thor hurriedly explained all that had happened to Loki while he was in the void and surprisingly Clint spoke up first. He turned to Loki and nodded.

"I believe you." Loki stood there shocked.

The other Avengers turned to him as well. He merely shrugged.

"While I was being controlled I would get these flashes from Loki, something about the scepter kind of connected our minds or something. Well these flashes were of some man being tortured till he was close to death then healed for it all to start over again. I had brushed it off as someone else, but, those are the same scars." He walked forward.

Loki backed away instinctively when Clint raised his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the blow but it never came instead there was an apology and a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Clint standing there with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry for what has happened to you Loki. No one should have to go through that." He then turned around and went to his bedroom.

Natasha hurriedly followed him. Tony stepped forward and looked at Loki's scars. Bruce looked slightly green but not with rage at Loki, but at the ones who had tortured the guy for a year to get him to take over a planet. Steve looked like he might throw up.

"My friends, I was wondering if it might not be too much trouble if my brother and I could stay here at the tower. Loki has been banished for his crimes and when the city has been repaired with his help he may be allowed back in Asgard." Thor spoke up again.

Tony turned to look at him then back at Loki.

"Of course. After one thing reindeer games. Apologize for throwing me out the window." Tony said completely serious.

Loki smiled and bowed his head.

"I humbly apologize Mr. Stark, for throwing you out of your tower window." Loki said.

Tony smiled and became his snarky self again. He addressed Jarvis asking for him to show the two gods to their rooms.

It had been three weeks and the city was almost completely rebuilt. Loki would go out and use his magic that was slowly being replenished to fix some of the major damages. The people of new york had seemed to forgive him and he was still marveling at that strange change. Three weeks since there was any criminals worthy of the Avengers. Sadly the peace could not be permanent. Loki was out with Thor looking at the buildings helping out here and there when the first explosion shook the city. Loki jumped to his feet and looked around for the source and saw the skyscraper filled with people falling into the streets. He reached out with his magic and caught the falling structure. He slowly raised it back to its proper position sealing it so it wouldn't fall. The people in the street screamed as another bomb went off. There were burned bodies flung from the windows of a nearby museum. A third bomb and chaos reigned. Loki turned as Stark called his name.

"Loki! Here put this on!" He said throwing Loki an ear piece.

He looked at it with confusion.

"Put it in your ear. Then we can all communicate." He yelled as he flew away.

Thor following already putting his comm in as well. He heard Natasha through the little ear piece. Loki quickly put it on in time to hear her explanation.

"Five bombs have gone off and there some robots that look a lot like Stark's suits. They're blowing everything up." She yelled over the comm.

"Well they aren't mine!" Stark said.

Loki looked around and saw a little girl running away from a large metal suit. He pulled out a dagger and threw it at the robot's head. His magic allowed the dagger to pierce the hard metal and the bot slowly powered down completely unusable. Loki smirked and looked for more of the robots. He found a large group of them and threw daggers at each one dodging the rockets and deflecting the bullets they shot at him. His aim was true and each robot fell. Loki turned around when a scream sounded. A woman was running away from a robot as it shot at her she carried her child in her arms as she ran. Loki threw up a shield around the woman and her child and advanced on the robot. He jumped up into the air and shoved his dagger into the metal head. He heard Thor over the comm.

"Brother how are you fairing?" He asked.

Loki smirked.

"I'm just fine Thor. Stop worrying alre" He was cut off by the explosion from the building he had been standing by.

Loki felt weightless as he flew threw the air only to hit the ground a few feet away. His head smashed into the asphalt and everything went dark.

"Brother? Brother?! Are you okay?!" Thor yelled over the comm but there was no reply.

"Thor go find Loki we can handle this." Stark said.

Thor flew off looking for Loki.

When Loki opened his eyes the pain hit him like a wall. There was a large gash in his chest and his legs were completely crushed underneath a large piece of the building he had been standing next to. He struggled to breath but his lungs filled with the dust and ash. His blood poured from his wound.

"Brother. Th Thor." Loki chocked out trying to reach him.

Nothing but static. The comm was broken. No one knew where he was or if he was okay. He was dying and he knew it. He was alone.

Thor flew through the sky looking for the most recent explosion. He spotted a larger dust cloud and flew down to the earth. He could barely breath as he walked the streets looking for his brother. Along the way he found several broken robots, a dagger pierced through the metal skull. He continued to search until he heard a small whimper of pain. He rushed over to the source of the noise. There buried in ruble and bleeding from a large gash in his chest was Loki. Blood trickled from his mouth as he called once more for his brother. Thor was at his side within seconds.

"Brother. I'm here. Its okay. You'll be okay." Thor said as he tried to stop the bleeding.

Loki pushed him off.

"St . . . stop Thor. W . . we both know . . . I'm n . . not going to m . . make . . it." Loki choked out.

"Thor did you find Lokes?" Tony asked over the comm.

"Yes. Yes I found him. Please you must hurry he's. . . he's dying." Thor told him.

"We'll be right there buddy." Tony replied.

"Th. Thor. I'm sorry." Loki said.

He could see the darkness at the edge of his vision. Thor shook his head. Tears streamed from his eyes. He couldn't lose him not again. Please not again.

"Loki, look. The Avengers are coming. They'll be here soon. Please just hold on. We can help you." Thor continued.

Loki smiled and shook his head as best he could.

"No. It's too late. . . It's too late. . To stop it." he gasped out.

"No we can. Together." Thor said back.

"Sentiment. It will . . . be the end of you . . brother." Loki told him.

Loki could barely see the black fog had clouded his vision and all he saw was Thor's face looking down at him with such sorrow. He gave one last smile then everything went black.

Thor watched his brother smile once more then his eyes rolled back in his head. His breathing stopped and his heart beat was no more. Thor let out a mournful cry and Tony landed next to him. He looked at the dead form of Loki and the distraught Thor. He would never admit to the tears he cried during this moment. The rest of the team arrived and each member couldn't hold back the tears. They had all gotten to know Loki, the real Loki. They had all grown fond of him just as Thor had. But now he was gone killed in battle. Tony placed his metallic hand on Thor's shoulder in silent comfort. As the dust and ash started to clear away the people of new york were greeted with the sight of the young god surrounded by the Avengers. They all mourned the loss of the great sorcerer known as Loki.

AN: So? Like it? Hate it? Please leave a review! XD tell me what you think. :)

**Wow. I just posted two stories in two days. o-o Awesome. Haha! Welp, school shall be starting again for me soon so I hope I can keep posting stories but I'm not sure when they'll be. :( But I will continue to write. :) I love you all thanks SO much for the support. XD**


End file.
